Play Hockey
Wellington Hockey offers a wide range of opportunities for juniors to start playing hockey with junior competitions aligned to the Hockey NZ Small Sticks Strategy where all players play in their year groups, on third and half sized fields. We have programmes for beginners who have never picked up a stick, all the way through to players further through their development.
The objective of our junior hockey competition is to encourage, develop and foster a lifelong love of hockey for children in Wellington. We have created and formatted the competition with a primary focus on play, participation, fun and inclusion. We want to accommodate good and meaningful competition each week that promotes the holistic development and well-being of our Tamariki in line with Sport New Zealand's Balance is Better philosophy.
Wellington Hockey believes there will be great benefit in providing its community with guidance on what the common purpose of junior hockey is. The intention of this information is to provide clarity of what is most important to junior players at this stage of their hockey journey. We hope that this purpose and underlying principles will guide and influence behaviour to ensure that a quality and appropriate experience is provided to all our junior hockey players.
Our Purpose is to expose young people to a high-quality hockey experience that helps them to foster a lifelong connection to the sport.
Wellington Hockey believe that the Core Principles that underpin a high-quality junior hockey experience include:
Fun & Enjoyable
We want the hockey experience to be fun and enjoyable for all involved!
To Develop Hockey Fundamentals
We want to ensure that all junior participants develop a strong base of core hockey skills and understanding of basic tactical principles.
Creating Connections
We want to encourage meaningful relationships and friendships that foster a long-term connection to the community.
Holistic Development
We want to support our your people to learn about the importance of and develop their physical, emotional, and psychological well-being.
Our Fun Sticks programme offers our youngest players (years 1 & 2) a fun and encouraging environment to learn and play the game. The HUB based programme will be lead by Wellington Hockey and supported by Local Clubs to offer players fun games and exercises followed by free form games and good, meaningful competition for our participants.
Our junior hockey competitions are club and school based. If your school does not offer hockey as a sport to participate in, search for a junior hockey club to join. Find their contact details via the link here.
Community Spirit
Here at Wellington Hockey we are about playing hockey! When entering teams for our junior competitions you will see a recommended player number per team. If you have less than this number but still enough to field a team please do not be afraid to enter. We believe in getting kids out on the turf playing hockey. If you only have 6 players in your 6 a-side team and one happens to be away or sick then we encourage you to approach the team you are playing and ask if they have any extra players that can help out. This is common place in other sports and allows everyone more opportunity to get on the field.
Each team is to provide an umpire / game facilitator, with a whistle, for their own game who may also be the Coach.
Umpires are to stay on the same field that they are umpiring on. They are not to position themselves on an adjoining turf. Please also ensure that games start at the allocated start time on the draw and does not run overtime which would delay other games on the turf.
How to Hockey Handbook
All information you will need on playing formats, player registrations and more is available via the downloadable Junior Hockey 'How to Hockey' Handbook.
Spectator Rules
Besides the rules outlined in the How to Hockey Handbook, Wellington Hockey has a rule that ONLY players and the Coach/Manager are to be on the field. ALL other supporters must be behind the field fences.
Junior Hockey
To provide a quality hockey experience for children and whānau to foster a lifelong love of hockey. It’s all about playing with friends and learning new skills in a fun, safe and games-based environment.
